4 Truths That’ll Help You Understand God and Heaven

I can’t think of any Bible verses that say you’ll be on your knees, bowing down in front of God, and singing songs for the rest of eternity in heaven.

So if there are no Bible verses that support this, then where does this common idea come from?

It comes from Revelation 4:8–11. The Apostle John writes about what he saw in heaven. This is what he wrote:

The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

‘Holy, holy, holy,

Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come!’

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

‘You are worthy, O Lord,

To receive glory and honor and power;

For You created all things,

And by Your will they exist and were created.Revelation 4:8-11

Notice that it’s the four living creatures that are bowing down to God all the time.

The 24 elders lay their crowns before God. You and I will probably do that too.

But notice there’s nothing that says that you’ll have this mechanical interaction with God: stand, kneel, lay down your crown…repeat forever.

That brings you to truth #2.

Truth #2 – Your Definition of Worship May Be Wrong

There’s much more to worshiping God than singing songs in church, and raising your hands.

You might think that worship is when you go to church and sing songs to God.

That’s a narrow point of view on worship.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:1–2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Paul’s definition of worship is much more than just praising God in a church. His definition of worship is giving God all that you have and all that you are.

You’re no longer living for the world; you’re living for Jesus.

Worshiping God is about communion and fellowship with Him.

So even if God does want you to worship Him 24/7, that’s okay.

That’s because when you have the right definition of worship, it puts things in the proper perspective.

But then you might fall into the trap of thinking that God wanting you to worship Him all the time is prideful.

For an answer to that objection, check out truth #3.

Truth #3 – Your God is Way Better Than the Mona Lisa

To understand why God isn’t prideful when He says we’re to worship Him, I want you to think of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

The Mona Lisa is one of the most if not the most intriguing pieces of art in the world.

It’s gained so much attention because it is a masterpiece of art.

People can go to the Louvre Museum in Paris and stand to admire the painting for a long time.

This is what it looks like to stand in front of the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. It’s a humongous crowd.

People stand in front of the Mona Lisa to admire its beauty

The Mona Lisa is such an amazing painting that it causes people from all over the world to want to stare at it for a long time.

No one is forced to stand in front of the Mona Lisa and appreciate it’s charm.

But the thing is that it’s such a beautiful painting that it causes people to want to stand and admire its beauty.

It’s the same way with God. It’s not that you have to worship God. But it’s just that God is such an amazing, grand, and beautiful God, that the natural reaction is for you to worship Him when you’re with Him.

When you stand in God’s presence:

You can’t help but kneel before Him

You can’t help but praise Him

You can’t help but adore Him

God doesn’t make us worship Him. But being in His presence and seeing how amazing He is causes our natural reaction be to worship Him.

Check out what David wrote about God in Psalm 27:4.

Even without seeing God physically, David had a keen appreciation of how beautiful God is.

Question For You

About the Author

Peter Guirguis

I'm the Technology and Social Media Manager of Calvary Chapel South Bay, a church in Gardena, California. My passion is to see people give their life to Christ both online and offline. I've created the free guide to getting thousands of Twitter followers to show ordinary people how to get extraordinary results on Twitter.

Great write-up, thanks. I used to think some Bible truths can’t just be explained but the way you blog about Christ and Christianity makes everything very practical and even somebody who has never come across the Bible can grasp the simple truths about God. I look forward to heaven because it’s a place devoid of pain and imperfections.

Thank you, Peter, for giving “worship” its proper breadth of meaning. It really bothers me that the term “worship” has become so narrowly defined in most people’s minds as to apply primarily to music.

Ro 12:1-2 is a great way to illustrate your point about what it really means. But the version (possibly the NKJV) of those verses speak of ” reasonable service”, which, while accurate, may not convey the sense of worship for many people. So here are a few other versions of the Bible that make the end of Ro 12:1 very clear: “it is only right that you should worship him in this way.” (ERV) “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (ESV) “This is the true worship that you should offer.” (GNB) “This kind of worship is appropriate for you.” (GW)

I love the formatting of your articles – the teaser email, the way, in the article, that you preview your primary points, present them, then review them. Then you wrap up your presentation with a “call to action” finale. Quality teaching!

God willing, I will eventually be providing my blog readers with the same quality you do.

Thank you so much, Terry, for your kind words about my blog. More importantly, thank you so much for including those other translations the comments. They’re extremely helpful. It’s because of those translations that I included that Rom. 12:1-2 in my article.

So I understand you’re going to be starting a blog. Is that going to take a while, or is that going to be just around the corner? What’s the blog going to be about, if I may ask?

Brother Peter the one thing I am looking forward to in heaven besides the number one seeing the face of GOD- NO MORE SIN!! Hallelujah! Great post you clarified some things for me! Blessings to you and all my brothers and sisters in Christ!

This is interesting. A young man once told me God is an egotist. God can’t be an egotist. He really is the center of the universe, which is what we think we are when we have a large ego. I don’t know any more than anyone else, but I believe that in our ecstasy worship will flow out of us. There will be no way to stop it if we want. We may be doing other things while we worship. We all were created with many talents. Most of us choose one or two to build. Why do we have those talents if they weren’t meant for heaven? The difference is, no one will dread Monday. Our work will bring us joy.